Apple has sold twice as many units of its golden iPhone 5S as it has of its fruit-flavoured iPhone 5C, according to a research firm.
Although Apple has not yet released official figures on the sales of its two latest models of iPhone, an analysis group called Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) decided to find out …

Confused

CoCo the Clown Reasoning

Well actually, as much as I agree some of the colour choices may be, erm, questionable, it's not quite how Jasper's presenting it. The article is essentially about the 5S outselling the 5C with a bit of a negative implication that the 5C has been a bit of a damp squibb. But then Jasper, in a fine example of inumerate spinology contradicts himself writing:

"However, the launch of the iPhone 5 was even more successful than the 5S, according to CIRP, taking up 68 per cent of new sales when it was launched last year."

The percentage is correct, but that, of course, isn't CIRP's reasoning. Jasper's comparing the 5S getting a lower percentage of sales (including the 5C) as compared with the 5 versus the 4S, yet, in absolute terms, it has sold far more than the 5 (about 1/3 more over an equivalent period), so how this can equate to anything other than success on two fronts is beyond me: more absolute sales of the flagship, plus a greater percentage of sales than last years strategy achieved for the lower cost handsets (albeit marginally greater percentage, but of course this also means absolute sales are likewise up for the 5C as compared with the 4S last year), The new handsets cost less to produce to boot, so the increased percentage share of lower cost handset + increased margin as compared with last years strategy + absolute greater sales on all fronts, is beyond a shadow of a doubt a success.

Good ol' Jasper. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good bit of negative spin! He better not take a math refresher course though, or a conscience might kick in and ruin his designated role as in-house Apple troll.

Re: CoCo the Clown Reasoning

>>Good ol' Jasper. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good bit of negative spin! He better not take a math refresher course though, or a conscience might kick in and ruin his designated role as in-house Apple troll.

Funny how the Apple crowd used to say nearly the exact same thing about Anna before she stopped writing here.

Neither beast nor fowl. With a status symbol like the iphone, if you've got the extra 10%-20% on the rrp it takes to go for the top flight model, why settle for second best? Just telling everyone you're not quite as well off as you'd want to be.

"I think it's rather like the Porsche Cayman vs. the 911. No one wants to be looked at as slightly too poor to buy the 'proper' product."

The real story is that Apple has managed to convince a huge number of people to buy the equivalent of a Porsche when all the majority of them need is a Fiat 500 to pop down to the shops in. You really have to admire their ability to turn a luxury product into a commodity.

"Neither beast nor fowl. With a status symbol like the iphone, if you've got the extra 10%-20% on the rrp it takes to go for the top flight model, why settle for second best?"

Yes, but this whole argument about cost falls on its face when you consider the carriers (i.e., middlemen). Most people in the US who use AT&T or Verizon will tell you that the 4S is free, the 5C is $99, and the 5S is $199. So what they see is that the 5S is twice the price, not 18% more.

Possibility of different buying habits?

If you absolutely have to be seen to have the latest & best gadget, you will rush out and buy the top model. If you're less concerned about that sort of thing, you may be inclined to wait longer and might just pick up the 5C when you get round to it.

That kind of scenario would lead to the 5S selling like mad in the first month or two with a ramp down, but the 5C might just keep ticking along and eventually becoming more popular than the 5S. Of course, the lack in price differential might have had a factor as well, since Apple don't really do "budget phone"...

Re: So when will Apple chop $100 off the price of a 5C

Status Symbol?

I've never understood the view of iPhones or Apple products as status symbols.

Now, I'm not a hater of Apple's products; hate their business practices as much as you want, their products are pretty solid, especially in terms of software tinkering (most other companies tend to just brute force power by upgrading hardware).

However, here's the thing:

1) Apple products look like toys. Yes, minimalism and all that jazz, but they look like childrens toys to me.

2) Build quality: pretty standard, comparable to 99% of other products I have ever personally handled. In fact, after using all of my friends Macbook Airs, their build quality feels horrible. Everyone I know has broken or scratched their iPhone screen at least once

3) Hardware: Standard, and even occasionally sub-par

4) Price: Not necessarily the most expensive in terms of absolute price (there are far more expensive products out there), but definitely overpriced in terms of software capability and hardware. Call me crazy, but I don't want to pay a lot of money for a Unix system less functional than debian, fedora, mint, et al.

5) Premium feel: Its metal, but so are many other phones and devices. In fact, my sister "upgraded" from iPhones to the Samsung Notes when the first one came out and hasn't looked back since, and people seem much more impressed with my Note 3 than they do with another iPhone iteration. I can safely say that my Note 3 feels more premium than any iPhone I have held in my hand, and that's even though its plastic and has a rubber-like back. They iPhone, however, is assisted by the standardization of its design; its form remains the same through generations, and it is much more tightly controlledthan other phones, leading to a stronger brand image and recognizability.

The only thing I can think of is that it is an American company that used to have an obsessive and passionate hipster CEO, and some celebrities use it. Which, I suppose, is the main factor.

Re: Status Symbol?

Re: Status Symbol?

Yeah I don't hate Apple then you go on to tell everyone how you clearly do.

1. if you mean toys made out of precision engineered aluminium and glass.

2. build quality is superb - sure other people have got better but compare something like a Galaxy S3 to an IPhone 4S/5 and it's no contest. Compare a unibody Macbook to the vast majority of laptops and it's no contest. Compare an iMac to it's competitors - well not that there really are any.

3. hardware is pretty cutting edge - PCIe Flash and fusion drives when most people are still fitting standard rotational drives or basic SSDs if you are lucky. Pretty much first to market with Haswell. Retina screen laptops, retina screen smartphone and tablet. First with a decent fingerprint sensor, first with 64bit CPU and so on and on.

4. TCO, residual values, lower cost of support.

5. Note 3 is not 'premium' feel - it's placcy - it's the same old thing in the same old plastic case. Move along, move along.

Apple is much more than Jobs - he was a big influence certainly but that would be minimising the work of the thousands of other people there.

Re: Status Symbol?

It is laughable that you think Apple products have standard build quality and hardware. Just take the iPhone 5S. Almost every single thing about it is non-"standard" and often objectively better than the competition. Nobody disputes that the Apple-designed A7 is the mobile performance champion now, by a pretty wide margin. The screen in the 5S has objectively the best color accuracy of any cell phone screen. Most photography web sites say that the 5S's camera is almost the best cell phone camera ever, second to the PureView 808 and possibly Lumia 1020. Apple spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire the technology for its fingerprint scanner so you don't have to swipe it like your "standard" scanners. And not only does Apple use metal and glass for its phones, the camera and home button are covered with *sapphire*. What other phone company is using sapphire?

Re: Status Symbol?

1. somebody spent too much on your toys.

2. "Call me crazy, but I don't want to pay a lot of money for a Unix system less functional than debian, fedora, mint, et al."

All right, you're crazy. The fully fledged BSD UNIX is just that, a full UNIX (which Linux is not), plus most of the GNU and BSD shell utilities and a full programming environment plus drivers as standard (all right, for full set of compilers you need the free Xcode application installation, a few minutes work via the app store, or get GNU ones from the usual places). I have used all main stream and a few non-main stream UNIX implementations since 1984; I've used several Linux systems, native and via virtual machines, from building slackware for a misguided firm that thought it was saving money (as if my time was free) to Redhat and SUSE pro editions and several in between.

I assure you, OSX is at least as good as most Linux variants, with the advantage that the usual shells and shell tools, web server etc. come as standard. No hunting around for the codecs, libraries, reverse-engineered scanner drivers and so on.

I wonder if you used OSX via a terminal shell session or, better still, using X windows server and twm, just to get a first taste.

Seriously, like it's not fucking obvious

Anybody in the market for an iPhone is willing to spend money, be it right or wrong, or good or bad value.

That plastic fantastic, also known as the iPhone 5C is not going to appeal to the traditional apple buyers because it's, well, cheap. It looks cheap, in fact it looks fucking awful. Although Apple might have got away with it if they'd produced a black version.

Those who aspire to own apple products, but could never afford them before, are equally likely to not be interested because it's, well, too damned expensive. Why would they spend a fortune to acquire what has effectively been marketed as a second rate product.

There, I've said it. Apple screwed up on pricing and marketing, and as a result nobody will want a 5C, other than those with enough money for it to be a "festival" phone as an accompaniment to their 5S day to day phone.

@AC 15/10/13 20:55

"In the US, iPhones are effectively almost free because phone prices are obscured by the carriers. It's only in the rest of the world that iPhones could be considered expensive status symbols."

Nope:- Here in the UK, phone prices are (and have always been) very obscured by the carriers - I got an iPhone 5 64GB from my carrier with unlimited calls (landlines & mobiles, any network), unlimited texts, and a 2GB monthly data limit for £40/mo on a 2year contract.

How much did I pay upfront for my £700 phone? Nothing, Nichts, Zilch, Nada, Rien.

I use calls & texts heavily - data at 2GB seems so far more than adequate.

Over 2 years, I'll pay £960, so over and above the £700 cost of the phone, for £130/year - £2.50 per week, I get the aforementioned usage and effectively an interest-free loan to buy a phone which, at the end of my contract, will fetch a very good price if I sell it on & upgrade.

I don't think the deal's a bad one - but I'm sure there will be hordes of kiddies who will down vote me on the grounds they've a better seat for 4p/annum, and because I've had the temerity to be happy with my second iPhone. My 2yr old iPhone 4 (immaculate and perfect functionality) sold for £250 at the end of its contract...

Why does everyone insist on thinking you have to be wealthy to have an iphone? Or you have to aspire to own one? Walk down the High St and you see just as many working class with them (if not more) than you do other types. If poorer people couldn't afford the £50 per month as opposed to say £30 per month, then you wouldn't see so many sky dishes up on council estates.

Almost anyone can buy anything on credit these days, so it boils down to who wants to waste quite a lot on a communications device VS who isn't too fussed about that type of thing, nothing to do with personal wealth.

I agree with other comments though, if you want to have something to impress your friends, why then get "slighty" cheaper device? Maybe Apple overspent on all the 5C marketing as you can't go to a single underground station in London without seeing the adverts plastered over every single wall. I have yet to see a real one in person yet, and I'm already bored of the sight of them.

Status symbol or not at £548-£709 with a 64-bit processor they're definitely at the 'Porsche' end of the market. The fact that half of the people that you see on the street are carrying one means that something must be distorting the market. It's like half the car park at Tescos's being full of 911s.